


Fool's Love

by sophie_scribblz



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Accidental Confession, Fluff, Kissing in the Rain, M/M, Mild Angst with a happy ending, Mutual Pining, Pining, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Fluff, Viktor and Yuuri are Lev's parents because I have no self control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:13:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24333391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophie_scribblz/pseuds/sophie_scribblz
Summary: See- this isn't how it's supposed to be. Morisuke’s always been the one doing the teasing and Kuroo’s always been the one with the hopelessly obvious crush, ever since their second year when Kuroo’s videogame-obsessed best friend came to Nekoma. And that’s the way it’s been for, well, so long that Morisuke’s taken it as a given, as something that is there and should be there and always will be there.But, well. Lately, things have changed. Ever since stupid feaking Haiba Lev joined the team, all of the sudden Morisuke’s the one on the receiving end of knowing smirks and dramatic drapings and he’s the one doing the pushing and awkward blushing, though, his awkward blushing involves a lot less awkwardness and a lot more angry yelling. But it is so not fair.
Relationships: Haiba Lev & Katsuki Yuuri & Victor Nikiforov, Haiba Lev/Yaku Morisuke, Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou - Side, Kuroo Tetsurou & Yaku Morisuke
Comments: 23
Kudos: 356





	Fool's Love

**Author's Note:**

> yeet here's a super self-indulgent yakulev fic i wrote in a day based on these two images:  
> [this and ](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/647603621406404041/comments/5095470797166793438)[this](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/851110029568986106/)  
> i thought it looked like kuroo and yaku shipped each other's ships so i wrote a fic about it xD

See, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be.

Morisuke’s always been the one doing the teasing and Kuroo’s always been the one with the hopelessly obvious crush, ever since their second year when Kuroo’s videogame-obsessed best friend came to Nekoma. And of course Morisuke knew something was up from the beginning because seriously, the way Kuroo looks at Kenma is no joke. It’s crazy how someone can look _that_ lovestruck with just a single glance. It’s not like it’s a secret or anything just how head-over-heels Kuroo is; the entire team figured it out just from listening to his little ‘inspirational speech’ at the beginning of every match and practice game. What the real miracle is is Kenma still doesn’t know.

Of course Morisuke has a fucking field day making fun of him, whether it be a knowing smirk from across the room or full on draping himself against him, head lolling dramatically and saying ‘ _oh, Kuroo, take me now_ ’ as Kuroo flushes and pushes him off.

And that’s the way it’s been for, well, so long that Morisuke’s taken it as a given, as something that is there and should be there and always will be there. When Kenma isn’t around and Kuroo is hanging out with Morisuke, all he’ll talk about is Kenma, Kenma, Kenma, Kenma’s eyes, Kenma’s yawn, that adorable time Kenma sneezed and Morisuke will listen and snicker. One time, they had a team outing during the winter and Kuroo gave Kenma his jacket and Kenma wore it _,_ hands hidden by too-long sleeves and then he burrowed his nose into the collar and Kuroo got this _look_ on his face that was just so goddamned funny. He didn’t stop talking about that for days.

But, well. Lately, things have changed.

Ever since stupid freaking Haiba Lev joined the team, all of the sudden _Morisuke’s_ on the receiving end of knowing smirks and dramatic drapings and he’s the one doing the pushing and awkward blushing, though his awkward blushing involves a lot less awkwardness and a lot more angry yelling. But it is so not fair.

These kinds of thoughts add pressure to the already-present ache behind Morisuke’s eyes, early one Saturday morning on the way to practice. Who even decided that it’s legal to be awake this early?

It’s not like it’s Morisuke’s fault for being distracted by the curve of Lev’s back or the definition of his thighs, right at that moment that he hits the top of his jump and his hand whips the ball thundering down onto the other court. It’s not his fault that his eyes wander in the changing room because really, no fifteen year old should be that muscular and it’s definitely not his fault that there’s been a certain persistence of gentle, clumsy hands and silver hair in the dreams that he will absolutely never talk about.

And okay, yes, Lev is pretty, but that wouldn’t be a problem had it not been the fact that he’s also freaking obsessed with Morisuke or something. 

It’s all _Yaku-san_ this and _Yaku-san_ that and is it even possible to find the way someone says your name cute? If it wasn’t before, it sure as hell is now because Lev is just adorable with those wide, happy eyes when his mouth tumbles out those three syllables.

Morisuke kicks a rock, a cartoon storm cloud over his head. 

Why on earth did he catch feelings? Was that really necessary? Like the Universe hadn’t already thrown enough at him these last few years. Clearly being painfully gay in an unaccepting family wasn’t hard enough; just had to pile in one last thing, saying, ‘ _oh yeah, by the way, you’re now in completely unrequited love with a straight first-year who is literally everything you find annoying.’_

Add it to the fucking list. 

“Yaku-san!”

Somehow, Morisuke’s mood gets worse.

“Yaku-san!” Lev calls again, waving his hand high over his head, even jumping a little as if he weren’t already tall enough to rival the goddamned Skytree. He stands outside Nekoma’s gym, eyes bright as ever despite the obscenely early hour and — is that a cat sitting by his feet?

Morisuke sighs. “Yes, Lev?” The sky is clean blue overhead, laced with dawn.

“I’m here before you, Yaku-san!” Lev says happily, that stupid puppy look on his face again. Goddamned adorable idiot. 

“It would appear that way,” Morisuke replies, not quite so energetically.

“How’d you sleep, Yaku-san?” asks Lev. Images from Morisuke’s dream flit across his eyelids and he grits his teeth, hoping the flush on his face isn’t too obvious.

“Fine,” he answers curtly.

“Hey, since practice isn’t starting until a little while, can we practice receives for a little bit?” Lev asks as Morisuke toes out of his shoes, just outside the club room. 

Morisuke scowls at him. “You hate receives. Who are you and what have you done with Lev?”

Lev throws his head back and he freaking— he laughs that beautiful, boisterous laugh and Morisuke kind of wants to kick himself for calling it beautiful, but it is. Everything about Lev’s joy is beautiful. God, he’s in deep.

“I don’t, but I like volleyball, and in order to play I gotta receive,” Lev says surely, as if it’s the clearest thing in the world. “Plus, I get to spend time with you!”

With that, Lev bounds off to the other side of the club room, pulling his shirt off as he goes and laughing with Inuoka about something stupid, probably, leaving Morisuke open-mouthed with steam coming out of his ears and unsure of whether it’s because of anger or embarrassment. 

And of course that’s the fucking moment Kuroo walks in and sees the state Morisuke’s in, so he’s got just the _perfect_ opportunity to whisper in Morisuke’s ear, “He wants you to _take him,”_ and a vein bulges from Morisuke’s forehead when he whips around and round-house kicks Kuroo in the stomach, snarling, and Kuroo’s wheezing with laughter that _bastard._

See, this is the kind of behavior Morisuke’s talking about. Seriously, who gave _Kuroo_ the right to tease _him?_ He’s way, way worse than Morisuke is, damnit. At least Morisuke hasn’t been pining for half a decade. Just. You know. Six months or so.

Okay, so that’s still pretty bad.

Morisuke shoves that thought off along with his shirt while he’s changing, sure he’s still blushing from that earlier encounter. His cheeks feel hot. Are his cheeks hot?

He closes his locker with a little more force than necessary.

  
  
  
  


Lev finds him after practice.

“Hey, Yaku-san, wanna walk home together?”

Morisuke’s heart skips a beat. Stupid heart. “Uh, sure,” he says and he tries to sound casual but then Kuroo turns his head wearing this _smirk_ and all of the sudden he really, _really_ wants to hit something, preferably Kuroo’s dumb face.

“Yes!” Lev shouts, pumping a fist. It’s kind of adorable. It’s really adorable. 

Lev _does that,_ sometimes, without even trying. He just makes all of Morisuke’s tension melt away with a simple look, a simple gesture, a simple laugh. Other times, of course, it’s exactly the opposite.

Morisuke smiles and Lev catches his eye and for a moment, nothing else exists.

But moments have this frustrating tendency to end— Lev looks away and scratches his neck, wide grin turning to something smaller and, well, shier. 

Shy. There’s a word Morisuke never thought he’d use to describe Lev.

Then Lev’s mouth is running a mile a minute again and Morisuke finds that it’s not so hard to walk like this, talking, just the two of them. It’s easy as breathing when Morisuke interjects a snarky remark or two or when he slaps Lev’s arm with a smile on his face. 

And it’s so easy to imagine that he could say ‘ _hey, Lev, want to go get ice cream? My treat’_ and that Lev would blush and accept and know he meant like a date, but he tells himself that that wouldn’t happen for any number of reasons. The biggest being that Lev almost definitely doesn’t like him like that.

And then his mind takes it one more step and asks him, _why does Lev like you at all?_ It’s not like Morisuke is nice to him. It’s not like Morisuke is anything like an upperclassmen should be. He’s mean, and pushy, and bossy, and he gives Lev shit for things he probably shouldn’t. There isn’t one reason why Lev should like him, even as a friend.

Their conversation doesn’t seem quite as carefree after that, with that little notion sitting like lead in his heart. Of course Lev shouldn’t like him. Of course. Of course.

So why does he?

“Hey, Lev,” Morisuke starts, when he stands outside of the Haiba’s apartment. Shit, he hadn’t meant to mention this. He wasn’t going to mention this. 

“Yeah?”

Well, no going back now.

“Uh,” He swallows. “Why do you… why do you hang out with me?”

Lev just blinks at him, looking confused and a little bit lost, too. “What do you mean?”

Morisuke can’t meet his eyes. “I mean, I’m not all that nice to you, and it’s not like I’m that good at volleyball, either. I guess I just— don’t understand.”

“Yaku-san, you really have no idea how amazing you are, do you?” 

Morisuke’s eyes snap up, his heart beating faster because he absolutely had not expected that answer. “ _Guh?”_ he says intelligently.

Lev laughs, just this little bubbly thing. “I just— I don’t know.” His smile falls into something sadder. “I guess sometimes people are only nice to me because they think I’m handsome? Or they’re scared of me because I’m tall.” He pauses, seeming to search for words. A moment passes. “But you’re not like that!” he bursts suddenly, startling Morisuke a little. “You kick me when I deserve to be kicked and you insult me when I should be insulted, so I know when you’re nice I must deserve it!”

Morisuke looks at him, just looks, not really sure of what to make of his words but they’re making his hands feel empty and his lips feel lonely. 

“And, well, you’re gonna leave soon, so I wanna spend as much time with you as I can.” Lev’s face is so earnest while he speaks, making it totally clear that he’s saying exactly what’s on his mind, word for word. And something pulls inside Morisuke’s chest, something warm that seeps into his bones and puts a smile on his face. 

Then he hears someone calling something through the door, wood muddling the thick Russian words and Lev’s head turns and he smiles apologetically. “I gotta go now. See you on Monday?”

“Yeah,” Morisuke answers and it feels mechanical, starkly cold against Lev’s sincerity. So just when Lev is about to close the door behind him, Morisuke calls out, “Hey,” and Lev stops, blinking at him. “Meet you here at 6:30?” Morisuke says, a no-doubt embarrassingly hopeful smile on his face.

Lev’s grin could blind the sun.

And Morisuke supposes that it becomes a sort of routine, after that day. He takes the detour to Lev’s apartment and Lev is never late, always standing right outside the complex, practically vibrating. And when he sees Morisuke his face lights up and he shouts like an idiot — an adorable idiot, but an idiot nonetheless — and Morisuke kicks him and tells him to quiet down because it’s way too early to be yelling in the hallways. 

Then they walk to school together and Lev talks and Morisuke responds and Lev seems to be some kind of infinite waterfall of questions. Somehow, there’s always one following the next, and the next, and Morisuke finds that the fifteen minute walk to Nekoma High can go by so much quicker than he thought.

When Lev waves him goodbye at the gate and skips off to the first year’s wing, Morisuke can’t really deny the hollow space that forms in his absence. It’s like the world gets a little dimmer.

Jesus, that’s fucking cheesy.

But Lev makes him want to be cheesy. Lev makes him want to learn pickup lines and buy roses and hide notes in Lev’s bag that say couple-y things like ‘you’re beautiful’ and ‘I love you’ and it’s stupid and annoying and definitely Lev’s fault.

“Damnit, Lev,” Morisuke mutters under his breath, one day at lunch with Kuroo and Kai. His food tastes like ash.

“Trouble in paradise?” Kuroo grins that stupid suggestive grin.

Morisuke glares at him. “‘Could say the same for you. Where’d your other half run off to?”

Kuroo pokes his rice with a chopstick, scowl forming. “He’s sick today.” 

“Well, so are you, right?” Kai speaks up, flashing a mischievous smile at Morisuke.

“Huh?” Kuroo tilts his head.

“‘Cause you’re _love_ sick?” 

Morisuke snorts violently and Kai cackles, Kuroo squawking indignantly, “HEY! It’s not that bad! Shut up! Have some respect for your captain!” 

“ _Pshh,_ whadd’ya mean, Kuroo? It’s _definitely_ that bad!” Morisuke wheezes, finding it harder and harder to breathe. God, Kuroo is such an idiot.

“No! ‘Lovesick’ implies someone who isn’t doing anything about it,” Kuroo says, pouting a little. 

“Yeah, and you’re not,” Morisuke points out and Kuroo stays silent, staring intently at his lunch and after a moment the libero stops laughing, Kai too. “Are you?”

“I think I’m gonna try to ask him out,” Kuroo mumbles.

Morisuke’s eyes widen, comically, probably. “No shit?” Kuroo nods weakly. “Dude! I’m so proud of you!” he shouts happily, slapping Kuroo on the back hard. Kuroo splutters a little. 

“Well, I dunno if I actually have the guts to do it. I mean, what if he rejects me?” 

Kai rolls his eyes and groans, dragging out the sound. “What do you mean, ‘if he rejects you?’ You have eyes, right Yaku?”

“Last time I checked,” he deadpans.

“Right, and you know Kenma’s going to say yes, right?”

“Yup. And I’m even more emotionally constipated than you, Kuroo.”

“But you _can’t_ know that!” protests Kuroo feebly, “the statistical improbability that Kenma happens to feel the same way as me is—”

“Oh my god just ask him out or I _will_ smack you.” 

  
  
  


Kuroo asks him out.

Kemna says yes, to absolutely no one’s surprise. Except maybe Kuroo’s.

And then there’s the thing that Morisuke didn’t even think to predict, the thing that squirms in his gut every time Kuroo puts his arm around Kenma and Kenma leans into the touch, every time Kenma yanks Kuroo into a short, chaste kiss before their practice games and Yamamoto wolf-whistles and the first-years giggle. Jealousy.

And yeah, maybe that makes him a bad person, but Morisuke _is_ jealous. Before, when they teased each other about their crushes, sure, it was annoying, but it was okay because they were both in the same situation: not quite knowing if it was unrequited or not but not quite letting themselves believe it wasn’t. But now Kuroo knows it isn’t, and what does Morisuke know? He knows that Lev shouldn’t feel that way about him. He doesn’t know Lev better than he knows himself. He hasn’t been friends with Lev since he was seven.

The only thing surprising about Kuroo’s confession was how long it took him to do it. And if Morisuke confessed? That’d be insane. It would never go well. It would never happen.

So now Kuroo gets to love, as hard as he wants. Kuroo gets to hold and kiss and laugh and know that he did it, that he got through it, and now he gets to know that Kenma loves him, too. He gets the outcome that Morisuke will never have.

“Yaku-san? Ready to go home?” Lev’s voice sounds right in Morisuke’s ear and he jumps, nearly dropping his volleyball shoes. 

“Jesus, Lev, don’t do that. You scared me half to death!”

“Sorry, Yaku-san. I didn’t notice you spacing out!”

Morisuke shoulders his bag, scowl deepening. “C’mon, lets go.” He walks out of the clubroom, not turning to see if Lev follows him.

Of course, he does, and his monstrously long legs take ginormous steps that catch up to Morisuke’s mini ones easily. “Yaku-san, did I do something wrong?”

He sighs. “No. I’m just a little on edge, that’s all. It’s not your fault, Lev.” It is. It’s totally his fault. If Lev weren’t so freaking beautiful, this wouldn’t have happened at all. Morisuke wouldn’t have to feel like this.

“Is it Kuroo-san and Kenma-san?” Morisuke lets out a huff of surprise, then turns to look at the taller boy, surprised to find that his eyes are averted and closed off. “Do… Do two boys — together, I mean — make you uncomfortable?”

“What? No!” Morisuke almost laughs. “Lev, I’m really, really gay.”

“Oh,” Lev says, and it barely sounds like more than a breath. “Then… what?”

“It’s just—” Morisuke stops himself and shakes his head. When he smiles, there’s no humor behind it. It’s small and quiet and a little bit longing. “Their relationship just seems so nice _,_ you know?”

“Yeah, I do,” Lev replies, quietly, softly. When Morisuke meets his eyes, there’s something unreadable there, something deep and slow and sad, maybe. 

But the moment does that thing, that thing that Morisuke hates and Lev is smiling bright again as he launches into a story about his lunch break when a classmate tried to microwave Cup Noodles without adding water and ended up filling the room with yellow smoke, that unreadable thing gone and the old evergreen shine in place. 

Morisuke listens, but he doesn’t really hear the words. He wonders when Lev felt the way he does. 

  
  
  
  


After that day, Morisuke thinks he might be able to feel a change in their friendship. It’s nothing big; just this little shift, somewhere deeper, somewhere warmer and more vulnerable. It seems like he can see Lev clearer, for some reason. It’s not like anything really happened, but it feels like he and Lev are closer now.

Maybe it has something to do with opening up. Morisuke’s never seen Lev look anything like that, before that day. Hell, he’d never seen him look anything but energetic and sincere. But now he knows that there’s this other side to Lev that he hides away all the time, something that’s soft and gentle and — wise, almost? No. Lev is not wise.

Like right now; he’s walking home with Lev, they’ve just left the club room and Lev is talking and talking, just as normal, but it feels easier. Lev jokes and Morisuke jokes back, and it’s like nothing else matters. Just these moments that he feels so close to Lev.

And sure, Morisuke took note of the swollen clouds before he left for school that morning but still, somehow, thought that he wouldn’t need an umbrella. But now, maybe ten minutes from Lev’s house, the sky looks just about ready to open up and Morisuke is getting nervous. 

And then it does— open up, that is. The rain starts slow, with fat drops that splatter across Morisuke’s cheeks but before long it’s downright pouring and Lev’s laughing and yelling at the same time, both of them holding their bags over their heads and making a beeline to Lev’s apartment.

By the time they get inside, they’re both soaked-through and shivering. Lev’s hair lies flat and slick on his forehead. 

“Hey, why don’t you come in? Just t-to warm up,” he offers while shaking hands unlock his front door.

“Oh, thank you, Lev,” Morisuke says. Lev opens the front door and calls out something, his voice slipping into perfect Russian in a way that absolutely does _not_ make Morisuke’s heart skip a beat. Of course not. 

“Pardon the intrusion!” he calls through his teeth that won’t stop chattering when he enters the Haiba residence.

“Goodness, _Lyovochka_ , you’re soaked!” Lev’s father calls from the kitchen, a man with silver hair and bright eyes that seem to be a hundred shades of blue at once, concern for his son swimming in their colors.

Another man looks up from beside him, adjusting his glasses, and Morisuke startles for a moment. Does Lev have two dads? “And who’s this waterlogged boy you’ve brought into our house?” Lev’s (other?) father asks. Smile lines crinkle around his eyes.

“This is Yaku-san!” Lev replies brightly, despite the shivers that make him vibrate next to Morisuke.

“Oh, _you’re_ the Yaku-san we’ve heard so much about lately! That makes sense, then.” The father with glasses says. “My name is Yuuri. This is Viktor.”

“Hi!”

“It’s very nice to m-meet you both.” Morisuke stammers out. He’s shaking like a leaf in the wind.

“Oh, Lev, look at that poor boy, he’s practically frozen solid!” Yuuri scolds lightly. “Why don’t you take Yaku-kun to your room so you two can dry off? We can make you dinner if you’d like, Yaku-kun! We’re having katsudon.” 

“Th-thanks, Haiba-san,”

“It’s not a problem! Now, you two go warm up. Come down soon, okay, _Lyovochka_?” Viktor calls, returning to chopping vegetables. He looks fondly at his husband (?) and nudges Yuuri playfully. “You wouldn’t want to miss out on my Katsudon, now, would you?”

Yuuri laughs, high and free. “Oh, stop it you,” he says, warmly.

Viktor sets his knife down and hooks his fingers in Yuuri’s belt loops, drawing the smaller man closer to him. “Mmm, make me~” he teases. Golden rings flash.

Ah. So. Married then.

“They’re like this all the time, sorry,” Lev whispers to him, smiling a little. “C’mon, my room is this way.”

Lev leads him down a hallway filled to the brim with framed photographs and Morisuke finds his eyes caught on them, each and every one. Viktor and Yuuri, Viktor and Yuuri and a girl, Viktor and Yuuri and a girl and Lev. Right at the end of the hallway, there’s a picture of the whole Haiba family, bigger than all the others, right above the window. It’s Yuuri and Viktor on top of a podium, outfits matching and sparkling ice skates strapped to their feet, holding up a golden medal together. Between their legs, Lev stands — no more than two years old — clutching the coattails of Yuuri’s costume and staring up at the camera with wide eyes. The girl is there, too, wearing a sundress and leggings and with delicate fingers wrapped around Viktor’s arm. 

Lev sees him looking. “They’re famous figure skaters, you know. Katsuki Yuuri and Viktor Nikiforov.”

The names sound vaguely familiar to Morisuke for reasons he can’t really place. Maybe he saw them on TV once?

“When they got married, they wanted to merge their families, but they’d had enough of foreign reporters butchering ‘Katsuki-Nikiforov,’” Lev tells him, laughing a little, “So they picked a new name, together.” There’s a kind of fondness in Lev’s eyes, staring at the old picture of his parents.

“Haiba,” says Morisuke, just as quietly. _Altitude,_ it means. Flying high. 

“Yeah,” Lev grins and opens his bedroom door, gesturing inside with his chin. “C’mon, I’ll get towels. You wait in here?”

“Ah, okay,” replies Morisuke, then Lev disappears down the hallway and Morisuke’s left alone.

He pushes the door open, suddenly feeling very out of place in Lev’s empty room. It feels too personal; like he shouldn’t be there.

 _Especially you, with the way you think of him,_ a voice in his mind reminds him, but he pushes it away, telling himself that it doesn’t matter because it’s just a room.

Lev’s bed is shoved into the farthest wall, surrounded with bookshelves piled high and haphazard with everything from magazines to mystery novels to catalogues. So Lev reads? Somehow, Morisuke finds that surprising, but all evidence is in favor of a crazy bookworm. And everything else is cluttered, too; his floor is littered with laundry and his walls have torn-out pictures and printed photographs taped onto them, and his desk—

_Dear Yaku-san,_

That’s what the first line of the open notebook says. Unmistakeably. Dear Yaku-san. It’s surrounded by crumpled up binder sheets, too, but there’s that one open page. Dear Yaku-san.

So, if it’s addressed to him, then it’s not really snooping to just see what the rest of it says… right? Morisuke can hear the blood in his ears.

So, shivering like crazy, Morisuke crosses Lev’s room and picks up the notebook, wet fingerprints forming on the paper.

_Dear Yaku-san,_

_There’s something I need to tell you. It’s something that I’ve wanted to tell you for a while, but time is going to run out, soon. And once you’re done reading this, you can kick me and punch me as much as you want; I’ll deserve it, I know._

Morisuke’s mind stutters a little while reading the words. His heart is in his throat and he hopes, _hopes_ he knows what words will come next but it seems so wild and fake like there’s no way it’s real. 

Another part of him is surprised that Lev knows how to use semicolons.

_And I know I’m young and stupid so there’s no way I can judge this, but I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you._

And there. There it is. Written right there, on the page. Holy shit. It’s a fucking confession letter. Morisuke’s eyes rake over the words again and again as if they might change but they don’t and they _don’t,_ they stay exactly the same as they were when Lev wrote them. _I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you._

His hands are shaking so hard that he almost drops the notebook and the room is spinning, spinning, spinning around his head. Is this what it’s like right before you pass out? He thinks that this is what it’s like right before you pass out.

_A little while ago, you asked me why I went out of my way to spend time with you, and I told you that you’re amazing. Yaku-san, ‘amazing’ doesn’t begin to express what you are. Pick any positive adjective, no matter how big or strong or extreme, and it will describe you. Cunning, beautiful, ethereal, alluring, electric; they’re all you._

And now Morisuke actually _does_ drop the notebook because _holy shit, that’s incredible._ There’s no way that Lev came up with that. No way.

He has to lean against the desk but he picks up the notebook again and keeps reading, feeling as though his entire face is radiating heat. Who would’ve fucking guessed that Lev of all people had a way with words but that’s the least of what’s on his mind because _holy shit, Haiba Lev is in love with him._

_Yaku-san, I love you. I love all of you, all the time. And maybe I shouldn’t, but I do._

Somehow, some way, this must not be real. There’s just no way. There isn’t. Morisuke's eyes are pulled back to the letter again. 

_I’m not that stupid, though. I know you don’t feel the same way about me, and I don’t blame you._

_No, no, Lev, I love you, too, idiot!_ Morisuke thinks desperately, but there’s no one to hear him.

_I just thought you should know how loved you are, because I think sometimes you forget. People will always love you, Yaku-san. I think I will always love you._

_-Lev_

Morisuke blinks fast and rereads the letter again, and then one more time. Just three paragraphs, but somehow, it makes all the difference.

And he rereads it once more but the words don’t change, they’re exactly the same, every time. Honest words. Lev’s words.

And Morisuke knows he needs to talk to Lev _right fucking now_ but he reaches for the crumpled papers anyways, prying them open and reading the same letter as the one in his hands over and over but with words slightly different and written with a slightly shakier hand. Every crumpled paper is that same letter, just a little bit different and Morisuke can’t believe it; he’s hyperventilating and the room won’t stop _fucking spinning—_

“Hey, Yaku-san I got towels—” Morisuke turns around and meets Lev’s gaze, eyes wide and disbelieving and shocked and holding that notebook with water-stained fingers and he lets out a sound not unlike a squeak. And Lev—

Lev runs. 

_Shit— SHIT!_

Morisuke forces his legs to move as he sprints out the door after Lev, calling his name over and over but Lev isn’t slowing down and Viktor and Yuuri are yelling after them, confused and disgruntled but Lev doesn’t stop and he’s running out of the apartment, Morisuke right behind him.

“Lev! Lev, stop! Slow down; we gotta talk about this! _Lev!_ ” Morisuke shouts as they race through the lobby at top speed and then they’re out the door, back into the pouring rain. 

“ _I’m sorry,_ Yaku-san!” Lev shouts back, fists squeezed shut. “I didn’t want you to find out like that!” But even though Lev might be a lot bigger than him, Morisuke’s got a lot more stamina and he’s gaining on him as they run down the street, cars whizzing by. 

“Lev, _stop!”_ he screams but Lev doesn’t stop, just keeps running just a few paces ahead of him until they burst out into a park, rain hardly slowed by the canopy above them and Morisuke lunges for his wrist and holds on tight, skin rain-slick and cold. 

“ _Why,_ Yaku-san?” Lev pleads and it sounds so broken and sad and Morisuke thinks that not all of the water tracing down Lev’s face is rain. “So you can reject me to my face? Let me down nicely, or whatever? I didn’t mean to tell you that way, I swear—”

And Morisuke doesn’t know why he does it. He doesn’t know what comes over him in that split second, doesn’t know what makes him grab the back of Lev’s neck and yank him downward to let their lips clash together clumsily and it’s his first kiss and well.

It’s horrible, actually.

Lev isn’t moving at all and he just stands there, completely frozen and Morisuke’s just kissing him and it’s wet and cold and slippery and everything awful.

Except, it’s not.

Except, it still lets something free inside Morisuke’s chest that’s big and powerful and amazing and it changes his life, that single moment, that single stupid decision, that single kiss. 

And when he pulls away he’s absolutely _sure_ his entire face is on fire but Lev looks at him— just _looks_ and there’s amazement and wonder and disbelief and it’s all worth it; in that moment, it all becomes worth it. “Yaku-san?” Lev whispers and Morisuke pushes closer to him, holding big, clumsy hands in his own.

“Drop the ‘san’ already, Lev. In fact, drop the family name altogether. I’m your boyfriend now.”

And Lev smiles and in the rain in the sleeping city, it’s the brightest thing around. “Really?” he asks, small and shy and so, so cute. 

“No, I just kissed you and told you that I’m your boyfriend because i felt like it,” Morisuke says, sarcasm dripping from his tone.

“What?” Lev says quietly and he actually sounds _scared_ and Morisuke can’t help it; he laughs at this stupid dork that he’s totally, fully, head-over-heels in love with and, for once, he wouldn’t change a thing.

“No, you idiot. I love you, too,” Morisuke replies and his smile is so wide that his cheeks are hurting but it doesn’t matter; nothing matters anymore because Lev loves him and it’s all okay. 

“Oh,” Lev breathes, then adds, “that’s good,” and laughs and he leans forwards and their lips meet in the middle this time, ready but smiling too wide to kiss right. They stand, kissing and laughing in that little park in Tokyo, knowing that there’ll be time for them to kiss and kiss and kiss on Lev’s bed until Yuuri and Viktor call them to dinner, too many times to count, and there’ll be time for Lev to cry at Morisuke’s graduation and for Morisuke to wipe his tears away, even though he’ll be crying too.

There’ll be time for Lev to follow Morisuke to university even though Morisuke will tell him over and over to think of the future and Lev will say ‘I am; you are my future,’ and Morisuke will kiss him square on the mouth, not able to respond any other way because he feels the same. There’ll be time for them to buy their first flat together and to decorate it together, too, every last detail and for Lev to always clutter up the space with all his things no matter how many times Morisuke tells him to clean up. 

And there’ll be time for Morisuke to lead Lev back to that very same park on a summer day, palms sweaty and a golden ring heavy as a deadweight in his shorts’ pockets and Lev will cry when Morisuke slips the band onto his finger and then he’ll kiss Morisuke deeply, fully, perfect from years — no, decades — of practice. And maybe Morisuke’s parents won’t be there at the wedding but it won’t matter because Morisuke will be a Haiba then, and they won’t matter. There’ll be time for lazy mornings and coffee dates and tropical honeymoons and adopting two beautiful babies— there’ll be time for all of it. 

So, for now, at only fifteen and seventeen years old, they just hold each other and kiss for the very first time. 

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> oops that romantic fluff at the end got away from me. i love them too much xD
> 
> until next time!


End file.
